I do not "Hate" discovery or anything, but it lacks to me any emotional connection or feel of Star Trek. I can relate to the people on Orville, and the Ship is quite stunning, especially interior wise. I realize this is only the first few episodes, but the potential is there for a truly great show, ship and stories. With Discovery, I feel its just the "Make it visually out of this world", but I leave feeling a disconnect, like a video game.
I've only watched through episode 3 but am loving it. In ep. 1 when that scary looking reptilian creature, menacingly pops up from the pond at that science station, the Cpt. asks if that is one of their experiments. The director says no ... that is Dr. Smith (or whatever), our science officer!! -- one of the funniest scenes ever. And when the cpt. steps on that blob in the hall. Hilarious. Lots of great gags like that but also filled with more subtle humor that also makes me lol throughout. My feeling so far is the adventure "stories" are just basically almost throwaway stories, but that doesn't matter because the "adventures" aren't really what this show is about. That could change as the show continues.
I suspect it is a big generational thing....... if you are in...say.... your 30s or older - and your first exposure was (like me) to TNG (or any of the TV series...really)- then the visual aesthetics are like "finally - I can see everything again.....this finally looks like Star Trek" - if you are in your 20s and your first exposure to Star Trek was the last few movies - and you *expect* science fiction to look all dark and shiny ...(because sci fi *all* looks the same...or most of it these days) - then you are like "this isn't science fiction...its a cartoon"....I feel bad for those who were reared on what passes for science fiction these days (especially the aesthetics....but also - a lot of it just seems a lot more vapid than it used to be.....though....I suppose that could be said for special-effects laden movies in general) -
Good points. What passes for science fiction today, seems to be based partially on video games, a very dark aesthetic, and designs and looks that are not based on logic, but more on an attempt to "look" oddly darkly/futuristic. Star Trek Nemesis was the start of this look. It does work at times, but overall, I feel the look is overshadowing everything else. I did go back and watch a few Next Gen Episodes, and they honestly look a bit dated now. Not old per se, but just not up to date, as they were late 80's early 90's/ Orville keeps the clean uncluttered look of Next Gen but moves it sideways a bit and more modern a bit. I am not against more futuristic, but feel Discovery and the latest movies, created a world, that is not so much futuristic, but more based on visuals the creators thought would be impressive to a 21st century audiences, that are wowed by odd visuals.
Some of the humor is great, some..ehh not so great, but overall I feel the interplay between the characters is more laid back and honestly more realistic than any other trek series ever was. The older Trek series, were too stiff, a bit too thought out as far as how they talked, and the humor seemed to always not feel part of how people really talk in real life. Like a character would say something funny, but it was always obvious attempts to inject some humor, and the music would always play some playful melody as if we the audience needed to be told it was a funny line. With Orville, I feel like they are closer to just real people out on a mission. In real life military stuff, trust me, jokes, swearing and off color comments are made constantly.
The "stiff" tone of TOS of Star Trek was intentional on the part of Gene Roddenberry. He wanted Trek to stand out as a group of experienced professionals exploring the universe. This was in part from his desire to emulate the structure of a military organization and to distance his show from the mostly juvenile approach other shows at the time took towards Science Fiction on television. It is also a product of the time it was written in. Watched in that context it is not too jarring. You want stiff, look at what Jack Webb was doing on Dragnet. What Roddenberry really pushed against was Kirk talking like a "buddy" with the crew and not keeping the professional distance that would normally exist in a command situation. Having been in the service myself, I can appreciate this point of view. I think that The Orville should keep on doing what they do with the dialog, but maybe the Captain shouldn't be part of it. Except when alone with someone he trusts. Not on the bridge. I've decided to treat The Orville as a Sci Fi version of Hogan's Heroes. A show with lots of humor, but still treating the subject matter with a bit of gravitas. I think episode 6 did that very well.
I expect that by next week the Union will be giving Ed an award and a handsome raise for his part in developing the tanning bed missile.
They sound like pretty good reasons to hate it! Boy, do I completely disagree with that. The so-called throwaway stories are what makes this show so good (eps 3,4,5,6...). The throwaway bits are the jokes, though they do add an extra dimension to the show when well chosen (as is increasingly the case with each new episode). The show really wants to tell decent stories, in the best tradition of past TV Treks.
HaHaHa! You left out key aspects of my post I'd made a point to mention to avoid contentious comments: I'd only seen 3 episodes and my conclusion "could change as the show continues." Yes, my conclusion changed after ep. 4, which was a pretty good story. Ep. 1 was basically mainly setting everything up. Ep. 2 involved an idea stolen from the TOS episode "Menagerie". But that didn't matter it was the comedy, such as the hilarious ending and the new twist that made it good. Ep. 3 was about the baby born as a girl which the alien society wanted to surgically change to a boy. An ok plot but nothing to write home about. What kept my interest was the comedy and the interplay of the characters. Like I said ep. 4 was finally an engaging story.
Not disagreeing with you at all, but I have the feeling, pretty much every "Type" of story has been done on one or the other Trek's over the years. Its nearly impossible to create an Entirely new story, that has nothing remotely similar to an older Trek story, But where I love Orville, it "Feels" fresh to me and fun and exciting and all that stuff. I did not feel that way during Enterprise, or Voyager, or even the "New trek" movies, or discovery. I think the human interaction is close to spot on, but with a bit too much humor but at times the humor really works.
Something Kubrick said years ago: "When Kubrick made 2001, rather than going to the hotshot concept designers of the day, he hired NASA engineers," said Simon. "I believe in form follows function. I'm not a fan of excessive decoration, of putting fins on something because it looks cool.
Something Tom Paris obviously never heard when he was designing the Delta Flyer, adding huge fins, only to be overruled by Tuvok.
They didn't want to compete with both NFL Football on CBS and Cubs/Dodgers Playoff Baseball on TBS so they re-ran the pilot.
I didn't realize, but they have really changed the make up on the ultra strong security woman since the pilot.
You're right, they've made her even cuter now, by removing the forehead bump and giving her eyebrows. I approve!
